With 29 runs in 3 innings in the ongoing Test series against England, Sachin Tendulkar’s form is shadow of the performance associated with him. Is it time for the selectors to take a decision that the master batsman seems unlikely to take?

The only arguments that one can make to keep Sachin in the team are all based on factors from his past -- his record, the number of runs, the number of centuries, the number of matches and more. But t he only argument that should matter is his current form – everything else doesn’t matter. For a year now, he has struggled. But he has kept his place in the side because he is Sachin Tendulkar. Anyone else would have been dropped. So for how much longer can we allow him to block a youngster’s place in the team? At some point, we all need to move on. For Sachin, that time is now.Read lessRead more

The clamour over Sachin Tendulkar’s place in the Indian side might be growing louder after the Mumbai Test but it is still too early to jettison the man around whom India’s batting has been built over the last two decades. While Tendulkar has struggled by anyone’s standards, not just his own, over the last 12 months, his record and his experience demand that he be given more time to fix his problems. Rahul Dravid went through a horror stretch for a couple of years before producing a series performance for the ages against England in 2011. There is every chance Tendulkar could pull off a similar feat. There is also no guarantee that whoever was to replace Tendulkar at No. 4 would produce better results. With the exception of Cheteshwar Pujara, the Indian batting line-up as a whole has failed to perform. Singling out Tendulkar because of his age ignores how well the England spinners bowled in the second Test. Should Tendulkar be given an infinite amount of time? No. But he deserves more time than this to set things right.Read lessRead more